1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates in general to a flat panel display and an image transfer method thereof, and more particularly to a flat panel display having a multi-channel data transfer interface and an image transfer method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
Since the Austrian botanist F. Reinitzer discovered liquid crystals in 1888 A.D., liquid crystals have been gradually gained popularity and are now widely used in products such as digital cameras, computer screens, televisions and the like, in the human daily life. Because the response speed of the liquid crystal molecule is relatively slow, various compensation technological methods are disclosed to compensate for a flat panel display.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram schematically depicting a conventional flat panel display 10. Referring to FIG. 1, the conventional flat panel display 10 includes an image processing circuit 110 and a display module 120. The image processing circuit 110 includes a decoder 112, a scaler 114, a first memory controller 116, a first memory 117 and a transmitter 118. The decoder 112 is electrically connected to the scaler 114. The scaler 114 is electrically connected to the transmitter 11 8 and the first memory controller 116. The first memory controller 116 is electrically connected to the first memory 117.
The display module 120 includes an image driving circuit 130, a second memory 140, a data driver 150, a panel 160 and a scan driver 170. The image driving circuit 130 includes a second memory controller 132, a receiver 134, a compensated driving unit 138 and a timing controller 136. The receiver 134 is electrically connected to the second memory controller 132 and the compensated driving unit 138. The second memory controller 132 is electrically connected to the second memory 140 and the compensated driving unit 138. The compensated driving unit 138 is electrically connected to the timing controller 136. The timing controller 136 is electrically connected to the scan driver 170 and the data driver 150. The panel 160 is electrically connected to the data driver 150 and the scan driver 170.
A data transfer interface, such as a LVDS (Low Voltage Differential Signaling) interface, is disposed between the receiver 134 of the display module 120 and the transmitter 118 of the image processing circuit 110. The image processing circuit 110 transfers frames to the display module 120 through the LVDS interface. In detail, the decoder 112 receives an external image signal through the S terminal or AV terminal, and decodes the external image signal into image data D. The scaler 114 sequentially generates image data of multiple frames according to the image data D. When the scaler 114 generates image data F(n−1) of a (n−1)th frame, the first memory controller 116 stores the image data F(n−1) of the (n−1)th frame into the first memory 117, and the transmitter 118 transfers the image data F(n−1) of the (n−1)th frame to the receiver 134. The second memory controller 132 also stores the image data F(n−1) of the (n−1)th frame into the second memory 140.
Thereafter, when the scaler 114 generates image data of a nth frame, the first memory controller 116 stores the image data F(n) of the nth frame into the first memory 117, and the transmitter 118 transfers the image data F(n) of the nth frame to the receiver 134.
The compensated driving unit 138 receives the previous image data F(n−1) of the previous (n−1)th frame of the second memory 140 from the second memory controller 132, receives the image data F(n) of the current nth frame from the receiver 134, and thus outputs compensated driving data C to the timing controller 136. The timing controller 136 outputs the compensated driving data C to the data driver 150 and a scan-starting signal S to the scan driver 170 according to timing. The data driver 150 receives the compensated driving data C and thus outputs a driving voltage CV to the panel 160, while the scan driver 170 receives the scan-starting signal S to sequentially control each row of pixels on the panel 160.
However, in order to induce the compensated driving unit 138 produce a suitable over-driving control signal according to the previous frame and the current frame, the flat panel display 10 must have the second memory 140 disposed in the display module 120 to store the image data of the previous frame, as well as a second memory controller 130 disposed in the image driving circuit 130 to control data access of the second memory 140. Disposing the second memory 140 in the display module 120 not only increases the manufacturing cost but also enlarges an area of a printed circuit board in the display module 120. In addition, disposing the second memory controller 130 in the image driving circuit 130 requires a greater number of pins in the image driving circuit 130, and the package casing of the image driving circuit 130 cannot be effectively reduced.